Road-bed of railway-tracks.



F. HENNEBIQUB. .BOAD BED OF EAILWAY TRACKS.

APPLIOATION IILBD A1IL', 1911.

Patented Npv. 5, 1912.

Wlnessa5 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. \VASHINGTDN, D. c.

FRANQOIS HENNEBIQUE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

ROAD-BEI) OF RAILWAY-TRACKS.

Specifitation of LettersfEatent.

Patented l\ cv. 53, 1912.

Applcaton fi1ed. April 7, 1911. Seral No. 619,582.

T0 (til wwm iz ma concern:

Be it known that I, FRANQOIS HENNE- BIQUE, citizen of the Republic of Francs, residing at Pars in the Republic of Francs, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road-Beds of RailWay- Tracks, of which the fcllowing is a specification.

From the commencement of railways up to the present day the layer of ballast which is interposed betvveen the rail snpports and the surface of the ground was considered te sufliciently distribute the loads over the whole 0 this surface. Today it is known that it is not so, and that the non-agglomerated ballast transmits vertically the pressure of the supports to the suriface of the ground without increasing the surface of the latter in contact with the sub-s0il.

Under the constant increase in the weight and speed of trains, the deterioration of the tracks l1as increased very rapidly, exposing the public to the risk of great accidents, in spits of the ccnsiderable increase in the work of maintenance, which becomes trom day to day more dangerous troublesome and onerons.

The eorts 0 engineers ha"e in particular been directedz-l, toward the rails and fish plates, the secti0ns of which have been ccnsiderably increased; 2, toward the sleep ers, the nnmber of vvhich has been increased until it has rendered the ramming down of the ballast very diflicult; 3, to the increase in the thickness cf the layer of ballast and the choiee of more resistant materials.

Even althcugh 0n certain much used tracks, the sleepers have been laicl sufli ciently near together to allow of the surface of the ballast being uniformly and entirely subjected to the pressure, it is everywhere reccgnized to-day that under the weight of modern locomctives the best protected surfaces become more and more rapidly deformecl. Beneath and in contact with the ballast the soil slips laterally, fcrced out by the weight er rises and passes through the ballast and appears at the surface between the sleepers, which are forced in, bent and deformed beneath strains which were not foreseen vvhen they were laid and the track packed 0r rammed. It therefore bec0rnes indispensable t0 guard against the insuf'ficiency in the resistance 0 the grcund 0r earthwork in many cases t0 reinforce it not only as regards the immediate contact of the loads transmitted theretoby the sleepers and the ballast, but als0 and more particularly to increase in depth and laterally this augmented resistance which decreases to- Ward the periphery until a superficies is reached Which is sufiiciently developed fer receiving ancl suppcrting the l0a-ds With a coeflicient of security restored to the initial resistance of the natural gronnd.

Now this inventicn enables the result hereinbeforeconsidered to be realized, and it ccnsists substantially in the applicaticn of vertical ramming to the ground and to the ballast of railway tracks, the strength of which it is desired te increase.

In order to carry out the invention, one or more vertical rammers actuated by any suitable motor and regulated '0r ramming at suitable distances from the axis of the track, are mounted 011 a truck. By the aid of these rammers, which are of varions weights and diameters acccrding to the nature of the ground and the intensity of the ramming which it is desired t0 obtain, the layer of ballast is first of all bored between two sleepers, 0r through the latter, and then the boring having reached the sub-soil, earth more er less mixecl with sand, ashes or gravel, is gradually introduced, Which is rammed down by means of the corresponding rammer until the resistance of the ground is consiclered to be sulficient, which may be as certained by the resistance oflered to the entrance of the rammen It is evident that the quantity of materials introduced and forced into the ground by the rammer creates in this ground a kind of Wicle base 0-r s0le, the resistance of which decreases irc1n the pcint directly struck by the ram1ner np to the peripheral extremities where the action of the ramming is weaker, that is to say np to the initial resistance of the gr0und. When the desired intensity of ramming in the subscil is attained, a mixture of earth more or less enriched with sand and fine gravel is introduced, in order to c0x er up the traces of the boring. On packing down the ballast by ramming, there is 0rmecl in its interior a body formng a kind of pillar, the base of which has been obtained in the manner hereinbefcre explained. In this 0-peration of filling, the ramming as it rises may begreater 0r smaller according as to whether it is desired te raise the level of the track at the adjacent points, or otherwise.

A way of carrying out the invention is shown in the accompanying clrawngs, in which:

Fgure 1 is a plan view of a ralw-ay track 0n sleepers; Fig. 2 is a transverse secton; ancl Fig. 3 is a cliagramof the resista'nce c1e ated in the ground as hereinbefore eX- planecl.

The rammng h0les a1e inclcatecl by en. The approximate form 7) of the grouncl forced back by the ram is shown in section in Fig. 2.

Gf c0urse as many holes may be made and rammings elected as the nature of he grouncl requires, anol the invention is applicable to the reinforcement of any ralway track whether laicl 011 transverse 0r longi tuelinal sleepers. The resstance of each s0le 01 f0ot ancl of s pilla1 beng a functi0n of the f0ree of the rammer in proporti0n to the section of the latter to the cube of thematerals introducecl and the number of blows gven, the same strength 0r resistance of the track e"en in very different ground may thus be everywhere obtuined.

The repeated 1amming with ntroduction of ballast materials 011 reaching neur tl1e ]0we1r plane of the sleepers causes f necessary, t-he latter to 1ise, and this is an excellent means of regulating and correcting depres sons in the rails.

I declare that what I claim is The method of reinforcing a roadbed consisting in proxdcling holes in the bed en the sides of the track and intermediate the sleepers ancl tampng a ballast material in the holes provdeol t0 force the male1al up beneath the sleepers and between the latter.

In witness whereof, I haxe hereunto signed my name this 21513 day of l\fnrch 1911, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANQOIS I-IENNEBIQUE.

IVitrlesses ALPHONS MEJEAN, H. C. COXE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressng the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

